25 Days of SHRBowl: Return to Mainstream with Momentum and a Bang

The countdown to the year’s biggest event has begun and over the next 25 days, Poker Central will introduce the entire 2017 Super High Roller Bowl field. From the world’s best high-stakes players, to online crushers and successful businessmen, poker’s most exclusive event has it all. Follow Poker Central’s “25 Days of SHRBowl” to know who will be competing when cards get in the air on May 28th.

The poker landscape has changed drastically over the last decade and while the new wave continues to storm the beach, poker’s old guard has remained strong. Players that made their mark on the game decades ago are still in the thick of the action and churning out results but while most of that old guard will be returning for another shot at the Super High Roller Bowl in 2017, John Juanda and Tony Guoga are making debuts later this month.

John Juanda’s career began in 1997 and over the last two decades, he has amassed one of the world’s best resumes. With over $20 million in career earnings, Juanda currently sits 11^th on the all-time money list and has consistently churned out seven-figure winning totals over the last dozen years.

The balance of where Juanda has recorded cashes is also astounding, with his best results coming from nearly every corner of the world. Juanda has three seven-figure scores, with the most recent coming from the EPT12 Barcelona €5,000 Main Event in 2015. Juanda earned $1,164,000 for the victory and while it was his first EPT title, Juanda was no stranger to the winner’s circle.

Juanda owns five World Series of Poker bracelets, including a WSOP Europe Main Event win from 2008 worth $1,580,000. While that WSOPE victory was in No Limit Hold’em, Juanda has had success in a variety of games at the World Series. Juanda’s other WSOP wins come in Limit A-5 Triple Draw, Seven Card Stud, Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit 2-7 Lowball.

While Juanda’s last WSOP score came in the 2014 Main Event, that is because Juanda has primarily kept his recent focus on High Roller tournaments in Europe and Asia. After his EPT Barcelona win, Juanda finished 2^nd in the APPT 2015 Asia Championship of Poker HK$500,000 Super High Roller for $719,000 and through the first half of 2017, has recorded a handful of final table results in High Roller events.

The first came at the start of the year. Juanda finished 4^th in the Aussie Millions $25,000 Challenge for $217,000 and more recently, he notched two podium finishes in PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo €25,000 High Rollers, for a combined $1,037,000. The Indonesian is quietly coming into the Super High Roller Bowl with momentum but “quiet” is never a word used to describe Tony Guoga.

More commonly known as Tony G, Guoga, pictured above with Phil Ivey in 2013, is one of the most colorful characters the poker world has ever seen. A simple Google or YouTube search yields dozens of memorable moments and quotes from cash games and tournaments around the world but over the last few years, Guoga has been out of the poker spotlight.

Guoga transitioned from poker professional to politician and then took a position in the European Parliament representing his native Lithuania. Prior to that move, Guoga had amassed nearly $5,000,000 in career earnings and a resume that including some career-best results in High Roller events.

Most of those big results came from European-based events, with his biggest coming in the €25,000 High Roller Championship at the EPT 5 Grand Final in 2009. Guoga earned $552,000 for a 3^rd place result and has a dozen other six-figure scores on his resume from events with buy-ins ranging from $5,000 to $100,000. Even though his last recorded tournament score was in 2013, Guoga’s experience and resume likely mean that he’ll be able to quickly reacclimate himself with the high-stakes arena, just like riding a bike.

Tomorrow, “25 Days of SHRBowl” continues with two cash game professionals that are no strangers to the world’s highest stakes. Follow Poker Central’s coverage of the year’s biggest event here.